One aspectthat must be addressed when designing tumbling blenders is poor axial mixing, which can lead
to non-homogeneous mixtures, especially when the particle physical and flow properties are different.
To overcome these limitations, we recently undertook an interest in a tetrapodal mixing device patented
in 1964. It can be described as two V-shaped pairs of arms connected at their bottoms, one of which is
twisted by 90◦. In this work, particle mixing and segregation are investigated using the discrete element
method in both the V-blender and this tetrapodal blender. Results of mixing time and uniformity are
compared for different loading profiles, fill levels and rotational speeds. Compared to the V-blender, this
geometry is shown to provide better axial and radial mixing efficiency. Good behavior was also observed
for size segregating granules, yet more investigation would be needed for worse cases involving granules
with large size ratios and different densities.